Fore!

I am a really good golfer, I am not going to lie, just ask Joe Pinkerton. He witnessed the massacre of range ball. Out of the whole bucket, I think I hit a couple of decent shots. The beauty of it all is the Golesh Door/Multifamily Building Products Company Golf Tournament is "best ball" so all I have to do is hit a couple good shots.

Nothing like using clubs that haven't seen the light of day since about 1982. At some point Mike Carter gave me his old high school clubs, Coors bag, Bronco club covers and all. The woods have real wood and the irons are about as low tech as one could ask for. Nonetheless I was able to hone and refine my swing to the point of being able to hit about 1 in 5 playable shots.

I keep forgetting that Saturday morning is the tournament. I have only biked through Fox Hollow, but the course looks pretty tough. My real hope of hopes is that i will have enough time after golfing to get a good ride in. Sunday will be the cyclocross debut for the Miller Highlife grill. The menu looks to be shaping up nicely with some sort of lamb and/or chicken with pita, yoghurt sauce, etc, etc.

You might ask where the pictures are . . . I just unpacked/uncovered the charger for the camera, go me.

Cold and Dark

On to phase two, cold and dark in the morning. I can't wait for the real parts of winter to come . . . ah the memories of walking the dog in the morning when snow is on the ground, it is too dark to see, and the poor dog can't find the ball in the snow to play fetch. On the bright side, I did a quick experiment and let Dempsey walk home from the park off leash for most of the way. I am happy to say he heeled quite nicely.

It looks like this afternoon will be one of the last 2 hour rides after work. Daylight continues to fade quickly. I am actually torn between riding outside and doing some work in the backyard and jumping on the trainer after. This week should see some good activity out back. I need to get some fence on the north side of the yard, cut up some more branches and get things laid out so I can till.

This weekend will be the first cross race I can make it to. I'll shine up the old High Life grill and head out to Red Rocks Elementary. If you can get out there give me a call and bring something to toss on the grill. Any menu suggestions for the season are now being taken . . .

Reality Check

If gluten-free-blog.blogspot.com has a higher readership than me I am going to have to start posting videos of me sacrificing goats!

Which brings up another interesting point . . . during the Service for Yom Kippur, part of the readings outline the way to cleanse oneself of sins involving burnt offerings, sin offerings, sending a goat out into the wilderness, etc. Where has that part of religion gone? Is it out of fear for PETA? Fear that we might send our sins smack into another community? Reverting to the ways of old might be a very good way to get the youth of the community more interested and involved in religious practices.

The weekend with Keely's family was quite lovely. Services are pretty similar in Conservative Synagogues across the country. I can say this now that I have experienced them at both ends of the country.

I had another weekend off the bike. We'll see how this week treats me. I see a trainer ride in my future.

In the Dark

Acting on the recommendations of Mike Carter, I went out to Meridian last night, doubting that there would be anybody there and that there would be any daylight left at the end of the ride at 7:00.

It was different dynamic than usual. Efforts seemed a little tougher than I remember, thanks to little intensity over the last couple weeks. More people simply packed up and went home after getting dropped, but there were still those few who would jump back in lap after lap. As it got darker and cars started turning on their headlights I realized that the group I was in was no longer the lead group, but the only group. It was good to get in some intensity none the less.

I hit Pasquini's with Brian, Matt, and Chad . . . the place, recently expanded has gone downhill service wise. You know it is bad when you get to the point where you have trouble actually paying your bill, i.e. having somebody come take your money when it is sitting on the table. Maybe I'll hit up Fish and Chips across the street for happy hour next time!

You have cut hair before . . .

. . . I mean, human hair . . . right?

I always have a healthy sense of fear before letting somebody new cut my hair. I went to Floyd's "Barbershop" last night because they were open until 9pm and I didn't want to wait and possibly end up looking shaggy before Yom Kippur with Keely and her family. I guess hours are an ok justification for patronage, but . . .

Slowly disappearing are the days of the old barber. I remember going with my dad to get my haircut at the barbershop and walking in to see all barbers either working, smoking, watching western shows on TV or a combination of the three. These guys knew how to cut hair without the muss and fuss of a hybrid salon for dudes.

As there are no events in the immediate future that require neat hair beyond this weekend, I'll start searching the side streets and neighborhoods for a real barber. The true lament is that Louie sold out his share of the shop on Pearl St. and I don't know where to turn. Same thing happened with my first barbershop in Denver, at least I can get a burger there now.

White Trash Fiasco

WTF!



I think Jason agrees:



Nothing like letting your yard go for about 5-6 years with absolutely no maintenance, no removal of anything, plant material and trash alike. You get a very dense layer of crap, leaving a 1-2" thick layer of munge that just rakes right off the top. In addition to that I had sections of fence, newly cut tree branches, a season's worth of weed/undergrowth, all to go into the dumpster.




A nine yard rolloff seems much bigger when empty. It was full much sooner than I expected which lead to more campfire material. In keeping with the white trash theme, Brian and I picked out a fancy "copper like" fire pit at the local Wal-Mart. That place is nothing but a trainwreck with displays that cause utter disbelief on every aisle . . . and then there is what they sell . . .



After we got done what could be done in the yard we decided it was a perfect time to have a campfire and a cookout. Hopefully the next phases will provide a more appealing setting and a more mild aftermath.

New Year

For those of you fellow Jews out there, Happy New Year, for those non-jews, the reason we didn't come to work on Thursday is because it was Rosh Hashanah. Just as a heads up, Yom Kippur is right around the corner so if my demeanor and outlook seem a little better it is because we do some heavy, non-commercially sponsored prayer and seeking of forgiveness.

A new year of any sort seemed like a good time to get the old blog fired back up. There were some backdated posts that never got published and some activities never recounted. As a recap:

Where we last left off, back in May we had our team BBQ for Tokyo Joe's Cycling Team and all the goods got handed out, equipped with all the best I was ready to head into the heart of the racing season . . . but then I got sick, got Joe Brenner sick, recovered slightly and managed to get 4th at State TT. I got a new TT bike shortly after States from Ed and the Bicycle Pedal'r, more on that later. I hit the road with Kevin and Rolf to begin what seemed like an endless series of climbing races. I was able to put in the early effort to help out the team and watch as those skinny climbing goons did their thing. I hit the Boulder TT series to try and get used to the new bike and get in as many time trials as possible to get ready for Masters' Worlds. I had a brief trip back to NC for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary which was a lovely surprise party. I went to Wyoming for the Dead Dog Classic, and rode over the pass solo as part of my early effort, maybe some day i'll be able to make one of those stick. I rode the crits, got rained on, I rode up Golden Gate in time trial position a little too often and I went to Austria. Did some racing, didn't win a championship, had the new TT bike stolen, did some traveling, returned to race the next weekend in scenic Lamar, CO. Now I have hung up the bike as much as I hang it up and traded it for a weed whacker and some manual labor. The backyard will be transformed this season.

Here we are, at the beginning of another year, the entrance to evening trainer hell, poised to make the leap to whatever comes next.

Pictures and more regular musings to follow. Keely and I did get some good pictures from the end of the season. Maybe I can even sneak in some real life shots, off the bike, in my other natural habitats.